★★★★★
One of the late '80s preeminent pop acts, New Kids on the Block reigned on the charts and foreshadowed the pre-millennial resurgence of the boy band and the teen pop star. As with many musical groups, success tends to fade or the musical union disbands. After a lengthy 14-year hiatus, New Kids on the Block released their first new album, 2008s The Block...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-04-11
★★★★★
The mature boy band is a fast growing trend in the world of music, as demonstrated by Take That's phenomenal comeback in 2010, which had many mothers and daughters screaming enthusiastically as one. New Kids On The Block, after secretly reforming in 2007 and - not so secretly - touring with The Backstreet Boys (yes, they're back too) and releasing a new album in 2008, they've made 10, as if to say the reunion is no one-album wonder...
- www.musicomh.com
2013-04-04
★★★★★
The point isn't whether the boyband megalith whose faces hung on most 13-year-old girls' walls in 1989 have any decent songs, but that they're back (and have been since The Block in 2008) and now, neither new nor kids, are here for Chardonnay-happy fans to weep over lost legwarmers and innocence...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2013-04-01
★★★★★
One of the reasons Take That's comeback has been a record-breaker is that they have in their ranks a songwriter who has matured into a purveyor of elegant, grownup pop. New Kids on the Block, now on their second album since reuniting in 2008, aren't so lucky. They're a personality-driven outfit (remember the antics of naughty old Donnie Wahlberg?) who rely on outside songwriting help, in this case Danish team DeeKay...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2013-04-01
★★★★★
Once upon a time, boy bands used to write their own songs and play their own instruments, like The Beatles, The Osmonds and The Bay City Rollers. But today? You just gotta look good. That's why two of these NKOTB look like they have more hair on their heads than they did on their last album. It's also why they also stacked the album with musical guests, including Ne-Yo, Lady Gaga, The Pussycat Dolls, Akon and New Edition.
- www.hour.ca
2010-11-02
★★★★★
Two decades on from their first single, the Boston teen heart-throbs who set the template for an onslaught of edgy boy bands update their pop schlock by hauling in a who's who of modern R&B: Akon, New Edition, Timbaland, the Pussycat Dolls and Ne-Yo feature. Proficient and predictably salacious.
- www.guardian.co.uk
2010-04-02
★★★★★
After the Beantown boys' mini teaser show earlier this summer, it didn't look good - they were unsure of themselves and unintentionally funny. And as much as news of their reunion tickled millions of fans now approaching their 30s, accusations of "pointless nostalgia" and "brazen cash grab" were flying. We were all focused on the act of reunion as opposed to the album it would produce...
- nowtoronto.com
2009-11-07
★★★★★
No text for this review; see http://robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg90/grades-90s.php.
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
As if desperate to shed the boy band stigma and prove they're now men, New Kid's on the Block's new collection ofcommittee-crafted tracks The Block bears no distinguishing marks aside from acompulsion for sex, sex, sex with a lover whose name, apparently, isGirl. Breezy single "Summertime" aside, it's all vaguely icky: "GrownMan" features the Pussycat Dolls chirping "Do you like my body?/Do youthink that I'm a hottie?" while "Lights, Camera, Action" vapidlycelebrates videotaped nookie...
- ew.com
2009-06-12
Loading...
